USAC Sprint Champion car owner Bob Price passes away
Crew chief and car owner Bob Price, who captured the USAC National Sprint Car championship with driver J.J. Yeley in 2001, passed away on Sunday, June 23, in Wichita, Kansas. He was 85 years old.
Price first teamed up with fellow Arizonian ABC Sand & Rock’s David Waltemath in 1998 to capture honors as the Sprint Car Racing Association’s (SCRA) top Rookie team.
With Yeley in 1999, Waltemath/Price’s beautiful baby blue GT Racing No. 76 won five SCRA events, four of them at their home track of Manzanita Speedway in Phoenix, Ariz. along with one during the Non-Wing World Championship round at Nebraska’s Eagle Raceway.
By 2000, the team put together a full USAC National Sprint Car program to compete on both dirt and pavement. The 2001 season was a breakout year for the team as they added three victories at Ohio’s Attica Raceway Park and Eldora Speedway, while notching another at Kansas’ Lakeside Speedway. Those performances vaulted Yeley to the USAC National Sprint Car driving championship. Although, on the entrant side of the standings, the team finished third.
In 2002, the GT Racing truly hit its stride with seven total USAC National Sprint Car victories. The first came on the pavement of Iowa’s Hawkeye Downs before adding a dirt triumph at Ohio’s Eldora Speedway during the Don Branson-Jud Larson Classic.
The team checked off subsequent victories in June 2002 at Ohio’s Fremont Speedway and Limaland Raceway Park, which provided the team the Buckeye Nationals championship after earning four consecutive top-three feature finishes and three fast qualifying times in the four-race series.
Later in 2002, Yeley, Price, Waltemath and GT Racing scored at Wisconsin’s Angell Park Speedway to go along with an Indiana Sprint Week score at Twin Cities Raceway Park and the season finale at the Terre Haute Action Track. In the final tally, GT Racing and Yeley finished a mere 13 points behind champion Tracy Hines and Dynamics, Inc.
For their 2002 efforts, Waltemath and Price were honored as the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame Non-Wing Team of the Year.
Price continued to field USAC National Sprint Car entries through the 2010 season with drivers such as Kyle Wissmiller, Stevie Sussex, Danny Sheridan, Nathan High and Mat Neely behind the wheel of his No. 0.
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